Firefighting has changed in the past 53 years for Roxbury man

BERLIN - When Elmer Miller of Roxbury first joined the Berlin Volunteer Fire Department, he admits that it looked a "whole lot different than it does now."

It was 1950, the firefighters relied on two small trucks and shared their space with an elementary school.

Born and raised in Jefferson Township near Allanvale, Miller worked for many years on the family farm as he attended school at the Miller School before attending Somerset High School after the eighth grade.

"I went to high school for a little while, but not very long. It wasn't exciting for me," he said.

Miller added that the distance from his home to the school also was an obstacle.

"That was seven miles to travel. It was an inconvenience," he said. "I didn't have a car and I didn't have a license."

During the next years of his life, Miller said he found work in many places, including area farms, a Pittsburgh factory and even his brother's auto garage.

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"I was always interested in automobiles," he said. "My brother had a garage and he gave me a chance to go there to work and that was what I had always wanted to do anyway."

Miller said that his first car was a Ford Model T.

"It was an older car. I don't have it anymore, but it sure would be nice if I did," he said. "Back then, you never thought of keeping things for now."

Miller said that he was 15 years old when he got his first car.

"I was always taller than the other fellas my age and I got away with a lot of things because people thought I was older than what I was," he said.

But through the years technology and training improved.

"In 1950, I joined the department. I moved to this part of the county long before that," he said.

Miller said he moved to Roxbury and worked with his brother fixing automobiles at the Brotherton Garage.

"I worked there for a while and then I bought my own tractor trailer and went on the road," he said. "Thought I wanted to drive truck. I never hated the job, but the first chance I had to sell it, I did and I started up a garage business myself."

He opened up Miller's Garage in Roxbury.

"I worked at it until I was old enough to retire in 1987," he said.

While operating the business, Miller also spent time restoring antique vehicles, including one that he gave to his son.

He added that he also restored an antique hose cart that was once used by area fire fighters at the turn of the century.

"I got the cart from the guys down in Central City. It was in sad shape, but I brought it back to life," he said.

After he was finished with the restoration project, he donated the cart back to the fire department.

"When I sold my garage, I didn't have the room to keep all of these things and I asked one of the members one day if they would take it back and they agreed to take it," he said. "They gave it to me, so it was only fair that I gave it back to them."

Miller said his interest in the department came once one of his customers recruited him to join.

"I had a customer that I worked for and he asked me one day to join," he said.

Many aspects of the department have changed over the years, including the department's home.

"When I joined, the fire hall was up here on Fletcher Street," he said. "It was in a section that was built onto the old school house."

Like any small community, Berlin's school functioned as many purposes.

"The school house was used for other purposes for other meetings and so on," he said. "In the fire hall, where we kept our equipment, were two trucks."

Miller said back then, few departments had enough equipment to cover their area alone and had to rely on neighboring fire departments for help.

"A lot of companies didn't have a lot of equipment back then either," Miller said. "But, you wasn't called out all of the time, like you are now."

Miller explained the crews were called to put out fires primarily and rarely were called out for a vehicle accident.

"You didn't go out to a car wreck unless it was very serious," he said.

Although Miller said he doesn't remember his first fire call from five decades ago, he did tell of a fatal fire that happened in the town.

"There was one fire up here in town where a man and his wife both died in it," he said. "That was quite a long time ago."

Miller said he remembered that the fire happened late at night while the couple was sleeping.

Miller said it was often difficult to hear the fire whistle from his home outside of the borough.

"You were OK if you had your windows open in the summer, but in the winter, when you had the windows shut, you couldn't hear it," he said. "And, it wasn't like today when you have radios to contact each other. Back then, we didn't have that. You just went when you heard the whistles."

Miller said the old-style uniforms weren't as insulated as the new versions are.

"Back then we had a long trench coat and high hip boots," he said. "The coats were long enough to cover the tops of your boots so you wouldn't get water in them."